“If we’re able to get zero-cost funding, that’s the fund that we can lend at zero percent also. And then out of that funding, we will just ask for administration fee. So that’s we can pass on, the zero-interest rate. That’s the beauty of the economic stimulus package,” Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez said in an interview on ANC Tuesday.

Lopez earlier said the Congress was allocating PHP80 billion that would be channeled through DTI’s financing arm, Small Business (SB) Corp., to MSMEs.

While waiting for the stimulus measures to be passed in the Congress, SB Corp. has opened a loan application for MSMEs under DTI’s Covid-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises (CARES) program.

During the online business forum of Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) Tuesday, Marikina City 2nd District Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo said the interest-free loan under the PESA bill will be coursed through SB Corp. as it has wide reach to MSMEs.

Quimbo, who is also the co-author of the PESA bill, said even if SB Corp. partners with conduits to roll out the loan, the zero-interest-rate term of the loan shall be kept.

She also echoed Lopez’s statement that borrowers will only pay administration fees but the interest rate shall remain at zero.

In the same e-forum, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) President Benedicto Yujuico said intermediary banks put up to 18 percent interest on loans, which MSMEs cannot afford during this Covid-19 pandemic.

Moreover, Quimbo estimated there is a bigger number of small businesses in the informal sector, which should be given assistance by the government.

“And my estimate, it’s about 4.5 million. So there are way more informal small businesses. We need to help them. We can’t do social amelioration forever. We can’t afford that,” she said.

She added this is the reason why the PESA bill allotted a big budget for credit mediation and for SB Corp. to help both registered and unregistered businesses.

“Many of the informal businesses will not go to the banks, they are afraid to go to the banks. We need to have an agency with specialized know-how like SB Corp. They know how to deal with the informal sector more than anyone else. So they should be the one to have the resources precisely to reach out to our unbanked small businesses,” Quimbo said. (PNA)